Ohne Titel / Spring 2014 RTW

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Flip, flip, flip! The head-turning locomotion of the short, swishy little New York skirt is becoming one of the identifiers of spring 2014. Flora Gill and Alexa Adams of Ohne Titel showed some of the best-in-category. What sets theirs apart is the fact that they’re knitted; intricately constructed in narrow fluted stripes, arrow patterns, and undulating lines. It’s a four-star-quality technical accomplishment which pushes the notion of “sweater-dressing” to a whole new level of desirability. And this in a spring collection, too.

How have they managed such a feat? Backstage, the designers explained that the potential of computerized knitting technology has blasted through all the old limitations in the way the digital age has also liberated print designers to push their creativity forward in leaps and bounds. Gill is the knit-geek of the two—a designer who uses her math-trained brain to work out how to plug previously unachievable patterns into state-of-the-art machinery in Chinese factories. The results—circle skirts in reversible black-and-white, dresses with complex vertical stripes engineered to go in at the waist and flare out below, multiple cropped knits fashioned in undulating waves—are brilliant.

And there’s more impressive news. This great creative leap forward is being achieved at attainable prices. Ohne Titel report that they’ve been able to lower their costs to contemporary-category level. The result is that they’ve tripled their sales, been able to move into bigger premises and take on more staff. This pair of hardworking young women are on the up.